


Hold On, Pain Ends

by admiralandrea



Category: Doctor Who (2005), NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Crossover, M/M, Suicide Attempt, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 15:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16813297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea
Summary: Just when things seem darkest for Callen, someone special shows him a lighter future





	Hold On, Pain Ends

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Time Travel square of my Trope Bingo card. Please note that this story starts with Callen about to kill himself and references similar thoughts at other times in the fic. Please don't read if that sort of thing triggers you.
> 
> References to future Sam/Callen - but they are the ones with kids (surrogates, not mpreg)

Callen cradled the gun in his hands, looking down at it as he sat on the floor, considering what he was going to do. Life seemed bleak. He had no family and no significant other. He’d burned his bridges with the CIA after the last operation and none of the other federal agencies that were courting him appealed right now. All he could think about was how wrong things had gone.

Memories flashed before him, images from the last operation and all the ones before them bombarding him in a sensory assault, making Callen cry out in pain. He raised the gun with trembling hands, not sure why it seemed to weigh so much. Callen released the safety and thought about the best way to end it. 

His hands shook and tears blurred his vision, making him clench his jaw. Everything seemed dark around him as he lifted the gun to his head. He didn’t think he could put it in his mouth, so Callen decided he would have to put it to his temple instead.

Gun in place, Callen put one finger on the trigger, oblivious to the world around him. The voice came out of nowhere, startling him. Fortunately, the gun didn’t fire, as his hand fell to his side.

“Stop!” the voice was commanding and Callen looked up into a woman’s face, framed by short blonde hair.

He frowned. “Who are you?” he asked, angry at the intrusion. “And how did you get in here?”

“The door was open,” the woman said.

Callen shook his head, knowing he’d locked it when he’d gotten here earlier.

“G Callen, I need you to come with me,” the woman told him. 

Callen noticed she had an accent from the north of England, which seemed odd. He also wondered how she knew his name.

“Why should I?” he asked. “You broke in here uninvited, I don’t know who you are.” He raised the gun and pointed it at her. “You need to leave.”

The woman scoffed at him. “Put that thing away, guns don’t solve anything,” she told him.

He released the safety again and rose smoothly to his feet. “I think they solve plenty,” he said coldly.

“Please!” The woman took something out of her pocket and pointed it towards him. The silver pen-like thing she held glowed yellow on one end and his gun got hot in his hand.

Callen yelped and quickly flicked the safety back on, before putting the gun on the floor. 

“Now will you please just come with me?” the woman asked impatiently, gesturing across the room.

Callen heaved a sigh. Whoever the woman was, she was clearly crazy, but humoring her seemed like the best way to get rid of her, so he gestured back. “Lead on Macduff,” he said.

To his surprise, the woman laughed. “Will would hate how people get that saying wrong all the time,” she said as she opened the door.

Callen frowned at the odd comment, but didn’t say anything. 

Once they were outside, the woman led him around a corner of the building to an alleyway. Callen looked around suspiciously, but there was no one in sight. Then they turned another corner and Callen stopped short. A blue box stood there with the words Police Public Call Box on the front. 

“What the hell?” he asked.

The woman turned back to him. “This is the TARDIS,” she said.

Callen frowned. “The what now?”

“My ship. Come on,” she beckoned him forward, opening the door.

“Ship?” Callen stood there staring. “It’s some sort of old wooden phone box, looks like it belongs in a museum. Why the hell would I want to go inside? You’re crazy lady.” He turned to go back to his motel room. 

“G Callen, please come with me.”

Callen paused, back turned to her, reluctance and curiosity warring inside him.

“I need you to see something,” the woman said. 

“In a phone box?” he asked, still not turning back around.

“No, somewhere else, the TARDIS will take us there.”

Callen finally turned back to her. “You know you’re not making any sense right?”

“Come inside and you’ll understand,” she told him.

He looked at her, still debating what to do. “Will you at least tell me your name?” he asked, not sure why it mattered.

“Oh, silly me,” she laughed. “I’m the Doctor.”

“The Doctor?” Callen asked. “Not a Doctor but the Doctor?”

“Yes, that’s right,” the Doctor agreed.

Callen shook his head. He was even more convinced she was crazy now, but she seemed to be mostly harmless, so he took a deep breath and decided to go with it. He didn’t understand anything that was happening right now, but it beat sitting in his motel room and contemplating eating his gun.

As soon as he stepped inside the blue box, Callen stumbled to a halt, shocked by what he was seeing. The Doctor seemed oblivious, striding forward to a big round console in the centre of the room, which had a variety of controls and screens on it, surrounding a translucent pillar.

“What the hell?” Callen asked, finally getting his feet moving again and walking up to the Doctor.

She turned and beamed at him. “Welcome to the TARDIS!” she said. “Bigger on the inside!”

Callen just shook his head, bemused. “What is this thing?” he asked.

“I told you, my ship,” the Doctor said. 

“How is it a ship?” Callen asked. “None of this makes any sense.”

The Doctor turned away from where she was fiddling with the controls. “It’s how I travel,” she explained. “TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”

Callen frowned. “That doesn’t explain anything,” he complained.

“With the TARDIS I can travel through space and time,” the Doctor said patiently. 

“So why would you want to travel to meet me?” Callen asked, not understanding that at all.

“I couldn’t let you do what you were planning,” the Doctor said.

“Why not?” Callen asked, suddenly tired. “I’m no-one, why would it matter if I live or die?”

“That’s why you’re here,” the Doctor said. “I need to show you that it does matter.” She turned back to the controls again.

As Callen watched, she twisted dials and twiddled knobs, before twirling what looked like an hourglass and then pulling a lever down. The central pillar started to pulse with light and move up and down and a strange sort of wheezing sound started up.

A short while later, it stopped again and the Doctor checked a monitor. “We’re here!” she announced.

“Where?” Callen asked, confused as to what had just happened.

The Doctor headed for the door. “Come see,” she beckoned to him to follow.

Callen shrugged and followed. It wasn’t like there was anything else he could do. When the Doctor opened the door, Callen could see they were somewhere different. Instead of the alley behind the motel which had been outside the door, there was now a brightly lit corridor which was recognizable to Callen as a hospital. 

The Doctor headed down the corridor, so Callen stepped out of the TARDIS and went with her. They walked around a couple of corners, then stopped next to a nurses station in another corridor, which was lined with rooms that all looked to be occupied.

The Doctor leaned against the counter and glanced from Callen to a room opposite them. He forced himself to relax, ignoring the bustle of staff around them and looked into the room the Doctor had indicated. His eyes widened in surprise as he took in the occupants of the room.

The man on the bed in a hospital gown was clearly an older version of himself, but the rest of the tableau was maybe even more shocking. A big African American guy sat behind the older Callen in a pose that clearly suggested familiarity and intimacy, even without his expression as he watched the other Callen cradle a tiny baby in his arms.

“What?” Callen whispered, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing.

“This is you ten years from now,” the Doctor said quietly from beside him.

Callen started in surprise, having forgotten her presence as he absorbed the people in front of him.

“How?” Callen murmured, watching the man sitting with his other self rest a hand on his shoulder.

“Time and space remember?” the Doctor told him.

Callen gave her a sideways look. “Not that,” he said. “The baby, can men…?” He trailed off, not quite able to voice his question.

The Doctor gave a quiet laugh at his expression. “No, that’s still not possible yet,” she told him and he gave a sigh of relief at that. “You used a surrogate.”

Callen nodded in understanding, that made sense thankfully. He went back to watching the room.

“She’s beautiful Sam,” he heard the other Callen say.

Callen felt a lump in his throat as he watched the big guy – Sam – reach out to stroke the baby’s face with one finger.

“Yeah, she is,” Sam’s reply was quiet, but Callen could still hear it.

“Excuse me, who are you?” a voice startled Callen out of his contemplation of the room and he looked up to see a tall brunette giving him a challenging look.

“I’m the Doctor,” came from his other side and she stepped in front of Callen, blocking him from view, holding out some sort of ID as she said it.

The brunette frowned as she looked at the Doctor. “Doctor who?” she asked.

Before the Doctor could respond, a little boy’s voice broke the stand-off. “Where’s Daddy and Popa Aunt Kensi?” came from behind the brunette.

She turned to look down at a little boy who looked to be around three or four. “Hey Aidan, they’re right here,” she said.

Callen backed up slowly, taking advantage of the brunette’s distraction and the Doctor moved with him. He was reluctant to leave, wanting to see more of this strange little family.

The boy ran into the room with the two men and baby calling out to them as he did so. “Daddy, Popa, I missed you!”

Callen couldn’t help smiling at his enthusiasm, watching him skid to a stop in front of the bed.

“Popa, you hurt!” he cried as he took in the figures on the bed.

Callen winced as he noticed for the first time that his older counterpart had bruises on his face and a couple of cuts covered with steri strips.

The Doctor’s hand on his shoulder got his attention and he forced himself to look away. “We need to go,” she told him gently.

Callen nodded reluctantly, knowing she was right. They walked off down the corridor back towards the TARDIS. Once inside, Callen slumped against a pillar, drained by the emotional impact of what he’d just seen.

“So why did you want me to see that?” he asked as the Doctor busied herself with the controls.

As the TARDIS started flashing and making noises again, the Doctor turned back to him. “Your daughter,” she said.

“What about her?” Callen asked.

“I can’t tell you much,” the Doctor explained, “But she’s very important in the future. If you went through with what you planned in that motel, then she wouldn’t be born and I couldn’t allow that to happen – or not happen, rather.”

Callen thought about that. “One person can be that important?” he asked.

“In this case, yes,” the Doctor said. “Do you understand?”

Callen shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “This is all a bit too much for me, science was never my strong suit, never mind time travel or whatever this was all about. But I guess I’m willing to believe you believe it.”

“And?” the Doctor prompted.

Callen shrugged. “I guess if you say it’s true, then I’ll go along with it,” he decided.

The Doctor looked relieved. “Thank you!” she said.

“So what now?” Callen asked.

“I have to take you back,” the Doctor said regretfully. 

Callen nodded in understanding. He’d guessed as much. “Okay,” he said.

As he said it, the TARDIS stopped moving and the Doctor turned back to the controls. “We’re here,” she announced and went to the door.

Callen followed her, pausing when she did just inside the door.

“Thank you G Callen,” she told him.

Callen held out his hand. “Just one thing before I go,” he asked. She nodded. “Do you know what the G stands for?”

The Doctor smiled. “I do, but that isn’t my story to tell.” He frowned, disappointed. “Don’t worry, you will find out one day,” she reassured him.

Callen sighed. It wasn’t particularly reassuring, but he could tell the Doctor wasn’t going to yield. The Doctor ignored his outstretched hand and pulled him forward into a quick hug.

“Go with NCIS,” she whispered, then let him go again.

He looked at her in surprise and she nodded with a smile. NCIS was one of the agencies that had been courting him since he’d left the CIA.

“Alright,” he agreed and she opened the door for him.

“Good luck, G Callen,” the Doctor said as he stepped back into the same alleyway behind his motel.

He nodded to her and walked a short distance away. The Doctor went back inside and as Callen watched, the TARDIS made that strange wheezing noise and slowly disappeared. He shook his head, still not understanding properly what had happened to him, but at least he felt like he had a future now and something to live for.


End file.
